The European Commission’s 7 July proposal that the EU, its Member States and Euratom withdraw from the Energy Charter Treaty (see EUROPE 13218/6) was not formally on the agenda for the first informal meeting of energy ministers under the Spanish Presidency in Valladolid on Tuesday 11 and Wednesday 12 July. However, preliminary discussions are expected in order to analyse the proposal and find a compromise for a common exit, desired by several Member States.
Following the Commission’s proposal, the Council of the EU must vote on this withdrawal by a qualified majority. Questioned on the issue, Spain’s Minister for Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, said that the way in which a coordinated exit could be envisaged still needed to be analysed, pointing out that “despite the efforts and insistence of the European Union that the Energy Charter Treaty be updated to ensure compatibility with the Paris Agreement, this modernisation of the Treaty has not been possible”.
So far, ten countries have announced their withdrawal from the Energy Charter Treaty (Italy, Spain, Poland, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Denmark and Ireland).
Ahead of the meeting, the office of the French Minister for Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, announced that it was examining the Commission’s proposal “with great interest”, but that it was also paying close attention to the fact that “we cannot force a country that has signed up to a commitment to withdraw from a Treaty”, although France would like “as many countries and the EU as a whole to withdraw as well”.
The international treaty, which came into force in 1998, allows investors to take action before an arbitration panel when they believe they have been wronged by a state, and is thus accused of protecting investments in fossil fuels.
In a joint letter on Monday 10 July, several environmental NGOs warned that “fragmentation of Member States’ accession to the Treaty would fragment the Single Market and weaken the EU’s external representation, particularly on energy and climate issues”, and are therefore calling for a collective withdrawal of the EU and its Member States. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)